free school/jump?

Free schooling/jumping can be fantastic exercise for horses and good fun for them if done right. What type of enclosure did you use and did you have help or do it on your own?

What makes you think it wasn't a success?
 
we use a medium sized arena. last time there was 2 of us, but the other person didnt really do anything!!
i dont think it wasn't a sucess, i just think it could have gone better. he kept cutting across straight after the jump
 
How many jumps do you have and wings and poles? The best way is to make a jumping alley - the way I do it (as do the blue cross - it was someone who worked their that showed me how!) is to put up a jump at the end of a jumping alley, get one person to lead the horse in and someone at the other side with a bucket of feed. Person shakes bucket of feed and horse jumps the fence and learns to associate jumping with something positive as get a very small amount of feed every time! So far have managed to get even the most stubborn horses that wont even walk over poles loose to jump this way :)
 
Mine just thinks its a great game :rolleyes: and he normally dosent end up jumping much but he does have a good time spinning, bucking, farting and occasionaly going over the jump. And yes he does this even with a jumping alley but hes great to jump under saddle its just his sense of humor so he is allowed to enjoy him self.
 
O.k well a helper who knows what they are doing would really help you. Set up a jumping lane as others have said. One jump to begin with at the end of the lane - small cross pole for starters.

Horses tend to send themselves down happily but you may need to send them forwards. The 2nd person should stand in a position so that the horse cannot cut the corner and you will have to move around to keep the horse travelling where you want.

You can gradually increase the height/width of the fence and add more remembering to keep the 1st fence smaller and invitiong for your horse.

Don't overdo it and lots of praise inbetween and at the end.

I used to work for the performance horse sales in Germany and we used to loose jump the auction horses for their pro photos - it was great and the horses absolutely loved it! Good luck :)
 
Thanx guy we might just have enough for a jumping alley, could we put just 1 thing up? He was very happy to just go over the jumps first!! He even got a little too into it and wouldn't let us catch him to alter the jump :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top